Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Here are a few songs that played in my mind and will forever make me think of my time in California:)

This is for my brother!

This song seriously played almost every day in California!! It specifically played when we were on our way to Venice Beach and was the perfect song for that area...totally 80's, totally whacked...And yes, we did these dance moves on the beach.

Aah...California. I miss it horribly. Its like that old song says "Then my eyes turn west-ward, knowing that's the place I love the best of all. California, I've been blue, since I've been away from you."

I got to spend a whole week with Blake in California, and it was absolutely and surprisingly wonderful. We stayed in Westwood, a little "suburb" of Los Angeles near UCLA, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Blvd. and West Hollywood. Everything was wonderful...the food, the weather, the sites, the diversity, the driving. I know I sound crazy because many people loathe LA, but Blake and I loved it! The people were suprisingly very nice, especially in traffic. We felt ourselves continually saying "Oh my, I totally would have gotten the bird for that move in Missouri traffic!" But the people are so cool and relaxed there. It just set the mood of California...extreme coolness.

The first day there, I visited Santa Monica Blvd., and couldn't stop thinking about my brother. It has this crazy, vintage, 80's surfer feel to it. The song "Santa Monica" by Everclear kept coming to mind 1) Because I was in Santa Monica and 2) It use to be my brother's favorite song:

We can live beside the oceanLeave the fire behindSwim out past the breakersWatch the world die

A definite cool, relaxed area full of history, surfers and brightly colored people and clothing:)

We ate at a restaurant called Ketchup, owned by Heinz, and we tried 5 flavors of ketchup: Chipotle BBQ, Ranch, Original, Mango and Maple Syrup...crazy delicious! We then went to the famous Geisha House on Sunset Blvd. and drank some sake...it was such a great night!

We went to Venice Beach the next day and got to flex our muscles on Muscle Beach...so much diversity and crazies there! I loved it...I couldn't stop laughing at all the crazies.

On Monday, we went to Disneyland and acted like little kids, dressing up in Minnie and Mickey Mouse paraphanalia, screaming loudly on all the rides, eating Mickey Mouse shaped cookies and getting completely soaked on Splash Mountain that goosebumps were almost permanently formed on our skin. Disneyland was a great experience as an "adult" and I highly recommend doing it sometime!

We went to Santa Barbara the next day, which was GORGEOUS!! I'm so jealous that people in SB actually get to enjoy 65-85 degree weather 365 days out of the year!! Blake's friend, Daniel, who we were staying with in Westwood, had parents living in SB. So we went to visit and it was awesome!! We ate a Julia Child's favorite Mexican Restaurant, which had delicious tortillas! We then visited the beach, hiked to the top of a mountain and viewed SB from the top...gorgeous! Lastly, we visited Daniel's family, who grow avocados, limes, lemons, plums, oranges, bananas and apricots in their backyard!!! It was absolutely INSANE and tasty:)

On Wednesday, we visited the Getty Museum, which had pieces by Van Gogh, Gaugin, Renoir, Monet, etc. I loved it! It also had this amazing garden that had huge bougainvillea vines, carefully placed rocks in a stream that made music when the water rushed passed them and a maze/piece of art made of plants and flowers. We had to take a tram to get to the museum. We stayed till it closed, and had to take the tram back to the car. These 2 little old women were too slow getting out of the tram and we're stuck inside the tram...Daniel tried to get them out by pushing open the doors, but the tram started moving to go back up to the museum...Daniel held on for a little while, but then gave up...it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen:)

On Thursday, we went to San Diego and went to the Wild Animal Park and San Diego Zoo in the same day! The Wild Animal Park was awesome! We went on a safari and fed a baby giraffe! We saw lions, giraffes and rhinos roaming in wide open/sectioned off spaces...it was soooo cool! We then went to our bed and breakfast in Little Italy and ate gnocchi...yum! Then it was off to the zoo, which we tackled in 2 1/2 hours...not that impressive and the animals didn't have as much room to roam as did the animals at the park...BUT, we did see arangutangs and chimps getting down and dirty...Blake took some great pics...we felt weird watching.

We went to Sea World the next day, where we went on a behind the scenes tour and fed and petted a dolphin! SO COOL:) We also got to see a 1 day old baby dolphin...so cute! BUT, my favorite part was getting to pet and feed bat rays. They are like cats and really just wanted love all over you. I seriously probably could have spent the whole day with them. There was this one sting ray that kept coming back to me and having me pet and feed him...I named him Pinky:) I told Blake that I want my own aquarium, with a sting ray that I can scuba dive with every morning before work...he was down with it, completely.

The night ended with Shamu splashing us in the front row and breaking my phone and freezing our butts off...it was still a great day, though.

Our last day in California was spent at La Jolla Cove, where we attempted to snorkle, but there were just too many inexperienced kayakers, who kept running into us...so we left and went to Balboa Park and ate a tasty pizza. We then rushed back to LA for our flight, but before we left, we went to Little Tokyo for some sushi...Blake ate squid and I didn't know if he was going to make it:)

We ended the trip with an interesting experience at LAX. There was a line to get your baggage tags, a line to drop off your baggage, a line to get your boarding pass and id checked and a line to go through security...we barely made our flight!!! We finally boarded the plane and had a loud transvestite sitting in front of us and a cranky baby sitting behind us...we were on the red eye and got absolutly no sleep!

We got home on Sunday...today is Wednesday and I'm still exhausted, but it was totally worth it. I miss California...I hope to live there someday. I think it would be possibly the easiest place to be an individual and to be your real self. I loved it...

"Any one who likes to wander ought to keep this saying in his mind,Absence makes the heart grow fonder" of the good old place you leave behind.When you've hit the train awhile, seems you rarely see a smile;that's why I must fly out yonder, where a frown is mighty hard to find!"

"California, here I come right back where I started from.Where Bowers of flowers bloom in the spring.Each morning at dawning, birdies sing an' everything.A sunkist miss said, "Don't be late" that's why I can hardly wait.Open up that Golden Gate.California here I come. "

What a morning! Today was my last day at my boyfriend's family's house, so of course I did what any good girl would do and I had a party...just kidding. I cleaned the house like a mad woman. I washed toilets, cleaned sheets, emptied gross litterboxes, watered flowers, washed dishes, took out the trash, flung dog poo out of the garage (long story - maybe some other time). I was up till 2 a.m. cleaning, then I finally laid down for a good night's sleep and decided to check my email only to find that not only did I need to take the depressed cat, Romeo, to the vet, but also the cracked out dog, Rufus, and bid dog, Ozzy. Did I mention I'm allergic to cats and dogs?

I woke up at 6 a.m. just to make sure I got everything in its place before work. The vet didn't open till 8 a.m. and I had to be at work at 8:30 a.m. so I was definitely rushed. I was running around putting luggage in my car, grabbing laundry out of the dryer and stuffing it into bags, feeding pets, giving pets their meds, and just doing one last round of cleaning. Then 7:45 rolls around and its time to get the pets ready to go to the vet. Romeo hates riding in his carrier, but it was either place him the carrier or hold him tightly and break out into rash. I chose to torment Romeo...but I figure we are even because I had to clean his poo all week.

Once Romeo got into his carrier, it was now time to get the dogs out of their electric fence collars, put a leash on them and get them into the car. That was an experience I would not like to relive ever again. I have scratches on my neck and chest from Rufus getting excited to ride in the car...a hot accessory to have for the summer, I must say.

After that fun fiasco, I got in the car to take the pets to the vet, and I remembered that I had to roll the windows down for the dogs and drive very slow and cautiously because the dogs get car sick. This took 10 minutes to get to the vet, when it should have took 5. I sat there listening to dogs panting, howling, drooling on me and scratching all over the inside of the car. Romeo sat in his carrier giving me this look of "I hate you soooo much right now...don't talk to me like you know me." - I imagined him saying this in a latina voice.

Once we got to the vet, I got Rufus out of the car, no biggie...he's small and pint size, I can totally take him. Ozzy was next to get out of the car. As soon as I opened the car door, Ozzy jumped out of the car, I grabbed his leash quickly, and he dragged me, DRAGGED ME to the vet's front door. I about BROKE cracked out Rufus because Ozzy is a beast. Of course, the dogs crissed-crossed, causing my limbs to criss-cross and my life flash before my eyes. I screamed a really dumb scream and almost face planted it on the pavement, but luckily caught myself from falling by making some really weird pose with my arms and legs...I like to think I looked like a spider caught in its own web. Unluckily for me, the vet's nurse saw the whole thing. I'm glad someone got a good laugh this morning...

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I've been house sitting and staying the night at my boyfriend's family's house now for almost 2 weeks. They have 2 cats and 2 dogs...I'm highly allergic to both. First night, I broke out into a rash. Second night, I gave them all some lovin' and then jumped in the tub...that has become my nightly ritual: Love on the kitties and doggies, then jump into tub, and I gotta say, it does help me from breaking out to a disgustingly red, bumpy rash.

Well, everything was going great and then I come home the other night, and Romeo, the little chubby, troublesome kitty, went crazy while I was at work and decided to fling his poo onto the floor and onto the doors. Did I mention he has diahrrea? Oh yea! At my humble apartment, there are no cats, there are no dogs, there are no pets period...just plants that don't require too much watering and attention. That's how I like it. I don't clean poo, I don't like the site of poo, I don't touch poo. This should tell you how much I love my boyfriend. I am touching poo for him.

On top of flinging cat poo, Romeo requires a pill every morning for his depression, which I have to carefully hide between to cat treats. I think his depression caused the poo flinging episode. Then there is Rufus, the cracked out papillon, who also needs a pill...probably because he is cracked out, which also must be carefully hidden within peanut butter.

This is my morning routine since living in the boyfriend's family's house:6 a.m. Wake Up6:05 a.m. Let dogs out to do their business6:10 a.m. Jump in shower6:30 a.m. Do the do7:00 a.m. Get fabulous7:30 a.m. Feed dogs and give Rufus his pill cover in pb7:35 a.m. Feed cats and give Romeo his pill hidden btw cat treats7:40 a.m. Go to work8:30a.m. - 5p.m. Work it5:30 p.m. Let dogs do business again5:35p.m. - 10p.m. Play with dogs and cats10 p.m. - Put dogs and cats to bed10:10 p.m. - Jump in tub and relax with a cold bud light lime10:30 p.m. Fall asleep to Bridezillas

Moral of the story: Dream of owning a bloodhound has been shattered. I'm not at all a pet person. I like flowers, trees, plants and fish, and thats about it.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Why in the world did you ever allow for the human race to create clowns?? As if I didn't already have a fear of creepy people, you have to go and allow creepy people in make-up with big shoes, bright colored outfits and scary looking hats to exist in this world?! This picture just adds to my phobia...

I googled "calamity" and one of the first words to pop-up was "STDs." Weird. This is in no way shape or form a blog for STDs...not that there's anything wrong with that, but just in case you are lost and searching for thus said blog, you are in the wrong place, my inflicted friend.

Editorial Note: Here's a thought. Maybe people misspell calamity and instead meant to spell clamidia. This is the only possible reason...

Maybe I should think about a new title. I don't want to be known as Clamidia J...although if I ever become a rapper, I'm sure I'd be a big hit.

About Me

{HAPPY GIRL}

I'm blessed. I laugh a lot. I am inspired by music & color. I'm a wife and in love with the sweetest man I know. I love to cook and drink wine. Usually at the same time. I love my family, friends and my God. The Lord is teaching me about the beauty in the ashes, and I am amazed by His grace.